Buckley Jiu-Jitsu, Oakville, Ontario, Canada

As one of the owners of Buckley Jiu-Jitsu, I am going to try to keep this review to facts and try to provide balanced information. I absolutely welcome the comments of anyone who has trained with us!

Buckley Jiu-Jitsu is a small dojo in Oakville, Ontario owned by Sensei Patrick Buckley (and his wife – that’s me). We are a non-traditional jiu-jitsu school offering modern Canadian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Muay Thai, MMA and Sport Jiu-Jitsu, with a focus on solid techniques and alive training. Our Canadian Jiu-Jitsu classes usually involve Gi grappling, syllabus jiu-jitsu techniques and mid-contact randori, and each of the boxing and grappling classes finish with sparring or rolling. MMA classes are Friday nights and Saturday afternoons, when we do Sport Jiu-Jitsu style sparring and no-Gi grappling.

Sensei Patrick Buckley has been training in martial arts for over 20 years, and has earned a 1st Degree Black Belt in Kempo Karate (under Sensei Jack Donovan) and a 4th Degree Black Belt in Jiu-Jitsu under Sensei Tom Sharkey. Although the style of Jiu-Jitsu is generally known as Juko Ryu, we call it Canadian Jiu-Jitsu due to the fact that it has been taught by Canadians to Canadians for about 30 years. If you want more information about the differences, go to : http://www.buckleymma.ca/canadianjiujitsu.html Sensei Sharkey is a former Charlie Ranger, and a Sergeant with the Toronto Emergency Task Force, so the jiu-jitsu style that has been handed down has been significantly modified to suit Sensei Sharkey’s military/ETF policing applications.

All Canadian Jiu-Jitsu classes are taught by Sensei Buckley – there are no assistant instructors. Classes generally start with a warm up, then students break in to groups to work on the syllabus for their level, which is clearly posted on the wall, with Patrick circulating and working with each grouping turn. More advanced students assist lower belts, in a very co-operative learning atmosphere.

Boxing is taught by Dave ‘The Cannon” Kilgannon, a former amateur boxer. The classes are heavy on conditioning, with lots of bagwork and skills drills. Each class ends with sparring, and even noobies are welcome to spar with the instructor if they wish.

Muay Thai is taught by Kru Jenypher Lanthier, a professional Muay Thai fighter from Siam No 1 gym in Toronto. Her classes are heavy in conditioning and she teaches a very traditional Muay Thai.

No-Gi grappling generally is taught during MMA classes on Friday night and Saturday afternoons by Sensei Patrick (we don’t currently have a grappling instructor). Patrick is not currently ranking in BJJ it's hard to train and run your own gym at the same time), but I'll link the throwdown vids when they come up so you can see what he has to offer.

The Buckley Jiu-Jitsu Kids Program is a fun and friendly introduction to jiu-jitsu for kids aged 5-10 years old, taught by Sensei Buckley (again, no assistant instructors). The techniques are taught in an age appropriate manner (for example, when the kids grapple, they earn points by takedowns, passing guard and shoulder pins – no submissions or striking). Although a Junior Black Belt does exist in this system, it should be noted that Sensei Patrick has never awarded one, and in fact there have only been 2 Junior Black Belts in the 30 years it has been taught in Canada.

As for cost – we have three different packages – attend two classes a week for $60/month, three classes a week for $80/month and unlimited classes for $100/month. There is no streaming – you can take any combination of classes you like. And we have a FlexForward program – any classes you don’t use this month automatically roll forward for as long as you are a member. We also have packages of 10 class passes that never expire, for people who just want to pop in now and then.

Atmosphere/Attitude: 9 – A bit on the sarcastic tough-guy side, but with lots of humour. We try to create a Work Hard/Play Harder atmosphere by doing lots of social events together – we go to UFC events at the bar, have BBQs, and usually every Friday Fight Night ends with beers somewhere.